A man died in the early hours of Sunday morning after he was struck by an SUV while skateboarding along Fifth Avenue near Unga Street, police say.
Officers and medics responded to the collision at 3:12 a.m., according to an online statement. The man who was struck, whose name had not been released as of Sunday morning, was declared dead at the scene.
“Based on information provided by witnesses and the first officer on scene a Ford Expedition was stopped by a patrol officer on the Glenn Highway near Boniface” minutes later at 3:16 a.m., police wrote. The driver, who investigators have identified as 27-year-old Stephen Matthews, was given a sobriety test and taken into custody.
“Through the initial investigative process, investigators with the Major Collision Investigation Unit were able to determine that (Matthews) was the driver involved in the collision,” the police statement said.
Matthews is now in custody at the Anchorage jail on charges of leaving the scene of an injury accident, failing to render aid, driving while under the influence and criminally negligent homicide, the statement said.
The case is still under investigation.